Flu-related pneumonia deaths in India

A latest study has shown that India is reported to be the highest number of flu-related pneumonia deaths among children in which more than3,70,000 children under the age of five years died due to pneumonia.

The study said that it is estimated that 90 million cases of seasonal flu occurs among the children under the age of five. 20 million of thse are flu-related pneumonia  resulting in 1 million hospital admissions. Flu-related pneumonia is also responsible for 28,000 to 1,15,000 deaths around the globe in this age group.

The study conducted by the University of Edinburgh with support from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Indian Council Of Medical Resrach (ICMR), Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) and US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The study was done between 1995 and 2010.

The study was led by the University of Edinburgh which involved 47 researchers from 14 countries. They reviewed data on the basis of high income and developing countries and found 43 suitable studies with data for around eight million children.

During the study, the reserachers found that in the year 2008, there had been about  1,11,500 deaths of children under the age of five due to influenza and ALRI related diseases. It has also been noted that 99 per cent of the deaths took place in the developing countries.

The estimates for India were based on the data collected from Haryana. Researchers estimated that although about 6,000 ALRI deaths has taken place in hospitals in the year 2008, as many as three times this number could be occuring at home.

Dr. Harish Nair of the Edinburgh's Centre for Population Health Sciences and the Public Health Foundation of India said that India contributes about a fourth of the global influenza-pneumonia deaths in chidren occuring under the age of five.

This is reported to be the first of this kind of study conducted in the world since earlier it was considered that ALRI was confined to elders only and no much attention was given to the chidren with this condition.

News reported by AR for Newsvision newspaper